1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to roof vents, and more specifically to passive attic vents for use on tile roofs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Energy efficiency is a serious consideration in new home design. New homes require ways to minimize energy requirements to maintain comfortable living spaces. One of the most common energy losses in a home is due to heat transfer through the attic. In warm climates, heat builds up in the attic from solar energy incident on the roof. In colder climates, moisture builds up in the attic, robbing the insulation of much of it""s R value. Early efforts at minimizing the effects of the heat and/or moisture build-up focused on the insulation between the living space and the attic. Gable vents and dormer type passive ventilation systems have been incorporated to ventilate the attic. In the southwest, many homes have low pitch, hip roofs which have no gables, and dormers may destroy the aesthetics of a design if improperly located or too numerous. Therefore, these systems have proven to be inadequate.
A passive attic vent with a camouflaged appearance has been marketed in recent years. This camouflaged vent has been difficult to manufacture and install.
What is needed is an improved passive ventilation system that will not effect the appearance of a building design if used in adequate numbers to properly ventilate the attic, and is useable on many roof configurations and with many types of roofing material.
The present invention provides a ventilation system for an attic or rafter space that mimics the appearance of roofing tiles and thus has a minimal negative effect on the appearance of the building. The vent has two pieces, a primary vent, and a secondary vent and they may be made of aluminum, steel or copper. The primary vent is installed on a roof deck with a primary vent opening over a ventilation opening cut through the deck. The secondary vent is constructed to look like the surrounding field tiles and is installed over the primary vent. The secondary vent has a skeleton with one or more vent openings and a cap covering each opening creating a ventilating access. The one or more vent openings in the secondary vent and the opening in the primary vent conduct air between the attic or rafter space and the outside.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides a roof vent for mounting between field tiles on a pitched, tile roof, the roof vent includes a primary vent for mounting on the roof in ventilating communication with an opening there through, a roof tile-shaped vent skeleton having an upslope edge and a parallel downslope edge and a pitch axis perpendicular to the upslope and the downslope edges, the vent skeleton is formed of a single continuous piece of material and includes one or more vent openings, the vent skeleton is mounted on the roof above the primary vent with the pitch axis of the vent skeleton parallel to the roof pitch with the vent openings in ventilating communication with the roof opening, and a vent cap attached to the vent skeleton adjacent each of the one or more vent openings creating a ventilating access between the vent cap and the skeleton.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a roof vent wherein the upslope and downslope edges precisely fit against adjacent upslope and downslope field tiles respectively, and the vent skeleton has a cap flange to precisely fit under and against the cap of an adjacent field tile, and the vent skeleton also has a pan flange to precisely fit against a pan of an adjacent field tile.
In a still further aspect, the present invention provides a vent skeleton having a plurality of ribs perpendicular to the pitch axis.
These and other features and advantages of this invention will become further apparent from the detailed description and accompanying figures that follow. In the figures and description, numerals indicate the various features of the invention, like numerals referring to like features throughout both the drawings and the description.